TransCanada pleased Keystone XL review

CALGARY – TransCanada says it’s pleased with the U.S. State Department’s latest report into its controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal, but acknowledges there’s some ways to go before it can go ahead with construction.

CEO Russ Girling says the report supports many of TransCanada’s arguments in favour of the 830,000-barrel-per-day line when it comes to jobs, environmental protection and the line’s impact on the pace of oilsands development.

But he says the process is far from over and expects TransCanada will have to answer a number of questions as an up to 90-day comment period kicks off.

He says about $2 billion has been sunk into the project so far — about half on materials and equipment and half on engineering and regulatory work.

Greg Stringham with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says the State Department’s report sets the stage for U.S. President Barack Obama to ultimately say yes to the project.

He says the message in the latest assessment isn’t much different from previous ones, but it goes into more detail on how Keystone XL would affect greenhouse gas emissions and the growing role of rail in getting crude to market.